The northern Gaza city of Beit Lahia was declared a disaster zone on Wednesday amid relentless Israeli strikes and a total siege that has shattered the infrastructure.
“We declare that the city is a disaster area due to the Israeli war of extermination and siege, and it has no food, water, hospitals, doctors, services, or communications,” the Beit Lahia municipality said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.
The declaration came a day after an Israeli attack on a single residential building in Beit Lahia killed at least 109 Palestinians, including over two dozen children, and wounded many more. On Wednesday, WAFA reported at least 14 civilians were killed by fresh Israeli shelling of the city.
Beit Lahia has been under a complete siege since early October as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign Israel is attempting to carry out in northern Gaza, known as the “general’s plan.” The Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia has also come under attack, leaving it unable to treat wounded Palestinians.
Rescuers with Gaza’s Civil Defense have also been unable to operate in Beit Lahia. “Whoever is injured just lies there on the ground, and whoever is killed can’t be transported, except by mule-drawn cart,” Dr. Eid Sabbah of Kamal Adwan Hospital told Al Jazeera.
Israeli strikes were reported across other parts of Gaza on Wednesday. Seven people were reported killed by Israeli strikes on two houses in the southern city of Khan Younis, and six were killed in central Gaza in two separate attacks on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily death toll update, which it releases about mid-day, that at least 102 Palestinians were killed and 287 were wounded by Israel’s assault in the previous 24-hour period. The ministry counts bodies that are brought to hospitals and morgues and doesn’t account for Palestinians missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
The ministry said the latest violence brings its death toll since October 2023 to 43,163 and the number of wounded to 101,510. A group of American healthcare workers who volunteered in Gaza have estimated the US-backed Israeli campaign has killed at least 118,908 Palestinians, a total that accounts for indirect deaths caused by the siege.
